NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 245 



vulsion ; two houses were entirely destroyed ; one end of a new 

 barn was left in ruins, the walls being cracked through the 

 very stones that composed them ; a hanging coppice was changed 

 to a naked rock ; and some grass grounds and an arable field 

 so broken and rifted by the chasms as to be rendered for a time 

 neither fit for the plough nor safe for pasturage, till considerable 

 labour and expense had been bestowed in levelling the surface 

 and filling in the gaping fissures. 



LETTER XLVI. 



" resonant arbusta ." 



SELBORNE. 



THERE is a steep abrupt pasture field and interspersed with furze 

 close to the back of this village, well known by the name of 

 Short Lithe, consisting of a rocky dry soil, and inclining to the 

 afternoon sun. This spot abounds with the gryllus campestris, or 

 field-cricket; which, though frequent in these parts, is by no 

 means a common insect in many other counties. 



As their cheerful summer cry cannot but draw the attention of 

 a naturalist, I have often gone down to examine the economy of 

 these grylli, and study their mode of life ; but they are so shy and 

 cautious that it is no easy matter to get a sight of them ; for 

 feeling a person's footsteps as he advances, they stop short in 

 the midst of their song, and retire backward nimbly into their 

 burrows, where they lurk till all suspicion of danger is over. 



At first we attempted to dig them out with a spade, but without 

 any great success ; for either we could not get to the bottom of 

 the hole, which often terminated under a great stone ; or else in 

 breaking up the ground we inadvertently squeezed the poor insect 

 to death. Out of one so bruised we took a multitude of eggs, 

 which were long and narrow, of a yellow colour, and covered 

 with a very tough skin. By this accident we learned to dis- 

 tinguish the male from the female ; the former of which is shining 



